Year of Cheer Christmas - Stampin' Up! Year of Cheer DSP - Fab Friday 127

  Here we are back with another Fab Friday challenge and it's the last one of 2017!  How can the year have gone by so quickly??  It seems like just yesterday that we were doing our first challenge of 2017!  We know this time of year can be super busy for everyone but we also know that maybe you need a little push to finish those last remaining Christmas projects.  We've tailored our last challenge of the year to be an encouragement to finish and share your Christmas project with us!

 I know for sure that I do not have enough Christmas cards for everyone on our list so I needed to design another card that I could whip up a few fairly quickly.  I've barely touched my Year of Cheer Specialty paper so that was my starting point for my Christmas card.

  The Year of Cheer Specialty paper sure is beautiful but it sure is hard to photograph also.  It's hard to capture the shine without capturing the glare!  So please excuse the blinding corner of my card!

  The base is Whisper White thick, then the layer of DSP.  I used a silver foil snowflake and then added the copper embossed sentiment (popped up with dimensionals) from Night in Bethlehem on top.  The Stitched Shapes framelit oval was the perfect size for this stamp. With a change of sentiment this design can easily be used for a winter wedding or a happy New Year's card.

  Next, I added a length of silver ribbon on the side and topped it with a Copper foil die cut snowflake.  The snowflake dies in the Seasonal Layers framelits are very detailed and delicate and make for wonderful accents on cards.  And finally, in the center of the snowflake is a small rhinestone. 

  I hope to see your gorgeous Christmas creation in our Fab Friday challenge gallery!  End the year by joining in our last challenge of 2017!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Night in Bethlehem

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Whisper White thick, Year of Cheer Specialty DSP, Whisper White, Copper foil

Accessories: copper embossing powder, Stitched Shapes framelits, silver foil snowflake, Seasonal Layers framelits, rhinestone, silver ribbon, dimensionals

Classic Bethlehem Invitation - Stampin' Up! Night in Bethlehem

  I help out in a 2-3 year old Sunday School class at our church and each year the head teacher for the group holds a Christmas party at her house for the kids and their families.  I, of course, offer to do the invitations because that's my thing and she won't let me do anything else!  Did I mention she's 89?  She is a wonder and I love being able to volunteer with her!  She's taught some kind of Sunday School class since she was 16!  I tell her all the time that I hope that I can have energy like her when I'm 41 no less 89!

  I knew as soon as I saw the Night in Bethlehem bundle in the catalog that it would be perfect for these party invitations.

  This design is really not much different than the Night Sky Over Bethlehem card I shared the other day but I did simplify it as I was making 10 of them and didn't have much time to do it.

  The card base is Sahara Sand and then a layer of Night of Navy embossed with little gold stars all over.

  The buildings are Whisper White and the top layer is popped on dimensionals for depth.

  Finally a beautiful Gold Glimmer Paper star was die cut and popped up over the city.

 On the inside of the card along with the party details I stamped Mary and Joseph.  The envelope has the shepherds looking up at a stamped star.  I just couldn't leave anyone off of this card!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Night in Bethlehem

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Sahara Sand, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Gold Glimmer paper

Accessories: Bethlehem Edgelit dies, gold embossing powder, dimensionals

Mini Christmas Tree - Stampin' Up! Christmas Quilt

  I am so sad that the Christmas Quilt bundle won't be carrying over after the Holiday catalog ends.  I don't think I've even scratched the surface of what can be made with this bundle.  I was hoping for a coordinating set for spring in the upcoming Occasions catalog but no luck!

 We did use the bundle at my last class to make this cute Christmas card.  The 6x6 Quilted Christmas DSP was so fun to use for the background.  There are so many great patterns in this pack that I know some of my stampers had a hard time choosing which 3 to use on their own card.

 The card base is Garden Green, then 3 different panels of the Quilted Christmas paper.  Next, using one of the Quilt Builder dies we made the fun stitching detail in a panel of Whisper White.  I saw it as a star but one of my stampers pointed out that it kind of looked like a snowflake too; it's fun to see what people see when looking at the same thing isn't it?

  Anyway, we used the star/snowflake imprint as the base for the tree.  The tree was stamped with Garden Green ink onto Lemon Lime Twist cardstock and hand cut (there is a die that does the triangle shape but it's just as easy to snip it out, especially in a class setting). We stamped the tree base in Real Red on Real Red cardstock and also hand cut it.  The star is die cut from Silver Glimmer paper.  All the tree pieces are popped up with dimensionals.  The mini dimensionals were the perfect size!

  The sentiment from Oh, What Fun is stamped on Whisper White in Garden Green ink and the end flagged and slide under the tree panel.

  The design is a quick card and so fun with all the different patterns you can choose for the background panels.

  I'm sorry the Christmas Quilt bundle won't be carrying over but I'm definitely going to enjoy using it while I can!

  Thanks for looking at Fab Friday!

Stamps: Christmas Quilt, Oh, What Fun

Ink: Garden Green, Real Red

Paper: Garden Green, Real Red, Lemon Lime Twist, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer, Quilted Christmas DSP

Accessories: Quilt Builder framelits, dimensionals

Night Sky Over Bethlehem - Stampin' Up! Night in Bethlehem

  I had my last class of the year before Thanksgiving and I hadn't used the Night in Bethlehem bundle in class yet so I knew for sure that I wanted to design a card to show off the town die cuts and stamp set.  After searching around the internet for ideas I thought that a fun background technique would be perfect.

  The Salted Background technique really gives a great night sky look and every time it comes out just a bit different.  Here's what you need if you want to try this technique yourself.  It's really easy!

- Shimmery White cardstock
- ink pads & sponges
- water in a spritzer
- salt (I used kosher)

1) sponge your ink colors in a random pattern/blotches all over the Shimmery White cardstock, overlapping the colors and covering all the white.  I use a rubbing motion as opposed to a dabbing motion to apply the ink to get it really saturated.  I used Fresh Fig, Island Indigo and Night of Navy but play around and see what combos you like.

2) Once you have your cardstock covered with color spritz it with water all over.  You don't need to soak it but get the water to the edges.  The ink may start to puddle and that's ok!

3) now sprinkle the salt over the wet cardstock.  More salt = more little splotches, Less salt = less little splotches

4) now spritz your cardstock again leaving the salt in place.  You want to see a bit of pooling and you should see come of the ink colors getting drawn to the salt crystals.

5) Depending on how impatient you are you can set the cardstock aside to air dry leaving the salt in place or you can dry it with your heat tool also leaving the salt in place.  In the interest of time during my class we used the heat tool but when I made the extras I left them to dry on their own for a few hours.  Either way is fine.

6) When the cardstock is dry, brush the salt off into the trash.  Now you have a beautiful background panel on which to build your Bethlehem!  Isn't it gorgeous?

  After cutting the town pieces in Whisper White and adhering them to the background panel I added some light dots with the clear Wink of Stella for some extra stars.

  A large Gold Glimmer paper star was also cut and popped up with a dimensional.

 We stamped the large sentiment and Mary & Joseph on the inside of the card.

  This might be my favorite card design of the season...so far!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Night in Bethlehem

Ink: Fresh Fig, Island Indigo, Night of Navy

Paper: Shimmery White, Whisper White, Fresh Fig, Gold Glimmer paper

Accessories: Bethlehem Edgelit dies, Wink of Stella, dimensionals, salt

Basic Snowflakes - Stampin' Up! Snowflake Sentiments

  I have overcommited to some volunteer activities lately so I'll have to keep the chatter to a minimum today so I can get to some of those things!  One of these days I'll learn to say no and not feel guilty about it!

 Nothing fancy going on with today's card just some basic snowflakes in some warm Christmas colors.

  I always like the Crumb Cake and Cherry Cobbler color combination for Christmas cards and the delicate white snowflakes add just enough detail to make this sentiment focused card pop.

  The base is Cherry Cobber and then a piece of Crumb Cake is die cut with the edge snowflake shape die.

  The snowflake strip is cut from Whisper White and adhered to the Crumb Cake piece.  Over that is a piece of retired Whisper White organza ribbon.

  Finally the sentiment is stamped in Cherry Cobbler onto Whisper White cardstock and cut out with a Stitched Shape oval framelit and is popped on dimensionals.

  Stamps: Snowflake Sentiments

  Ink: Cherry Cobbler

  Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Whisper White

 Accessories: Swirly Snowflakes Thinlets, Stitched Shapes framelits, Whisper White organza ribbon (reitred), dimensionals